


Autumn Sonata

by Laily



Series: Now That's What I Call Magic! [14]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27264337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laily/pseuds/Laily
Summary: Stephen and Loki compete with each other to show who loves the other more. There must only be one winner.
Relationships: Loki/Stephen Strange
Series: Now That's What I Call Magic! [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581754
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	Autumn Sonata

Anyone who knew Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, M.D., Ph.D., would agree that emotions were not his forte. Hyperfocused and driven, there was nothing he could not accomplish once he put his mind to it, and he would never let something as trivial as emotions get in his way.

That was the old Stephen talking, of course. The Stephen before Loki.

Stephen’s world after Loki could only be described as an adventure, one that cannot be planned enough, simply because there was never any planning involved. At least, that was how it appeared to him in the first stages of their relationship.

Loki was a prize he needed to win, but all the lengths he went to seemed to fall severely short; they never appeared to impress Loki no matter how great they were.

Take the walk down the streets of Lower Manhattan that one fine day for example, when they stopped for a minute to admire the Trinity Church.

“Did you know that there was a royal charter back in 1696 that granted this church the right to dead whales should any happen to land along Manhattan’s shoreline?” Loki had asked. “They would gut them, strip them of their whalebones and whatever profit from that goes to the church.”

What could one say in response to that?

“You know a lot about whales,” Stephen managed.

“Not really.” After a beat, Loki said merrily, “Just enough to save your life.”

With that, Loki then teased a kiss along Stephen’s cheekbone, before leaving him standing outside the historic church to look up at the spire in despair.

Even in his own city, Loki upstaged him.

“I think you’re trying too hard,” Wong commented out of the blue on one nondescript night.

“What?”

“He picked you, didn’t he? There must be something about you that he likes.” Wong studied him critically. “It can’t be your looks. Or money, since you have neither.”

Stephen glared. “Thanks a lot.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but…” Wong sighed, for he was hardly the right person to be giving the Sorcerer Supreme (or anybody for that matter) relationship advice, but there was only so much brooding he could tolerate; they were sharing breathing space after all. “You do know that it’s not a competition, right?”

“Tell that to Loki,” Stephen said darkly, studying his immaculate cuticles. “It’s his turn to choose our dating spot tomorrow and I need to be prepared.”

_To be mesmerised? Surprised?_

_Outshined?_

Wong hid a snicker. “Suit yourself, Boss.”

It turned out to be all of the above.

Loki appeared the next day looking head-to-toe magnificent. He was not wearing his tight leathers for once, but instead a beautifully tailored, classic lapel coat made of 100% Mongolian cashmere (Stephen cheated and read a loose thread he nicked from the hem of Loki’s sleeve, what with the gift of psychometry being one of the perks of being the Sorcerer Supreme and all) in a shade of grey so dark it was almost black.

Stephen refrained from commenting on how good Loki’s hair looked, being pulled back into a loose ponytail like that. It would not do to question Loki’s grooming choices lest he became too self-conscious and ripped the hair tie out, when Stephen secretly wanted to be the one to do it. With his teeth, preferably.

“Where are we going?” Stephen asked after changing out of his ratty sweater into a proper one, one of the few he owned that did not have holes in them.

Loki said nothing; he only smiled and held out an arm for Stephen to take, _It’s a surprise._

Teleporting was an indescribable experience, breathtaking and equally titillating every time, like that stomach-plummeting sensation one would get on the downslope of a rollercoaster ride – and Stephen had done this quite a number of times now.

Always, without fail, they would land with Loki’s arm wrapped securely around his waist, and always, with his heart thundering away in his ribcage.

Only when Stephen’s knees stopped threatening to buckle under him did Loki finally let him go. “Alright?”

“Yeah.” Reluctantly, Stephen released his own grip around the lapels of Loki’s new coat. Loki smelled _good_. Expensive, but good.

He cleared his throat in embarrassment and looked around. “Where are we?”

“Take a guess.”

They appeared to be in a park or forest reserve of some kind. Surrounding them were trees with leaves in all stages of red and gold. There were humans walking around, taking in the scenery and capturing fleeting moments in time with their cameras.

They were still on Earth, that was for sure.

Stephen spotted an information board with what looked like a map a few feet away. Though he could not read what it said, he recognised the characters. “We’re in Japan?”

Loki nodded. “We’re in Osaka. Minou City, to be exact.”

Stephen frowned. He was not all that fond of places where he did not know the language. “Why Japan?” 

“The autumn colours here are spectacular.”

“You should have told me what you wanted to see, I could have taken you upstate last week,” Stephen said lightly, trying not to sound like he was grumbling. “We have some nice fall foliage back home too.”

“I’m not here just for that. There’s a waterfall at the end of this trail.” Loki pointed somewhere northward. “Careful now, it’s a bit of an uphill climb.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Stephen muttered.

The tantalising smell of something frying wafted in the air, making Stephen’s mouth water. But Loki was walking too fast, paying no heed to the quaint shophouses lining the walk path.

“Shall we stop for snacks?”

“No time. The park will be closed soon.”

They must have been walking for at least forty-five minutes before finally reaching the last leg of their journey.

As they drew closer to the edge of the water, their gasps echoed those of couples around them as they unconsciously reached for each other. Loki’s slim fingers were as cold as always against the sweaty heatiness of his palm.

“Wow,” Stephen breathed. Be the tightness in his chest from awe or exhaustion, he could not quite tell, for the Minou Waterfall truly was a stunning sight: a majestic cascade of crystal-clear water falling from a height of at least a hundred feet, flanked on either side by red and gold maple trees framing a picturesque, natural landscape.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Stephen murmured. “But couldn’t you have just teleported us here?”

Loki laughed, showing no sign of exertion at all except for the two soft spots of pink rouging his cheeks.

“Ain’t about how fast we get here, Doctor.” Then came the brush of a conspiratorial whisper against his ear, as if Loki was divulging the juiciest secret in the universe. “It’s the climb.”

Stephen could not tear his eyes away from the gorgeous blush of Loki’s face. “Only _you_ can quote Miley Cyrus and still look so damn sexy.”

He leaned in for a kiss, but a hand shot up to put a rein on his searching lips.

“Not here,” Loki said quickly, before wrapping his arm around Stephen’s waist and teleporting them once more without warning.

A split-second later, Stephen found himself teetering on the very edge of a precipice, saved from what would have been a fatal drop down the waterfall by Loki’s lightning-fast reflexes. With a mighty tug, Loki pulled his lover into an embrace, sending them both tumbling backward onto a foliage-covered rock landing.

 _“Oof!”_ Stephen’s full weight slammed into him like a freight train. Despite his hardier Asgardian habitus, it still knocked the breath out of him, and Loki half-groaned, half-laughed, “You’re heavier than you look.”

“A little warning next time, Loki,” Stephen growled.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Loki lifted his head and sought for the lips he had longed to kiss since they arrived, digging deep into the white hair at Stephen’s temples with one hand, tugging at Stephen’s crumpled sweater with the other.

“Loki…”

The warmth of Stephen’s breath with the utterance of his Name against his cold skin only made Loki hungrier; with each ravenous probe of his tongue, Loki kneaded the depression in Stephen’s scalp behind his ears, knowing full well what it would do to his mortal lover. True enough, he lifted his hips and almost uttered a cry of rapture as his groin met Stephen’s arousal.

“Now give us a little privacy, Doctor,” Loki urged breathlessly.

“Isn’t that the reason why you brought us to the very top of the waterfall? So no one can see us?” Stephen teased, but raised the Mirror Dimension around them nonetheless.

Time ceased to exist as they joined as one; it could have been an hour later or three, but when they finally released each other, shaking and shuddering and utterly _spent_ , the sky had darkened considerably, the sun low.

"Pretty."

“Hmm?” Stephen swept stray wisps of ebony off his lover’s forehead.

“Pretty colours,” Loki repeated.

Everywhere he looked he saw colours – the blue and white of the sky, the dazzling speckles of red and yellow of the arcade of trees above, to the strong, untainted silver of the limestone mountains all around them.

The grey-blue eyes gazing down at him, the kindest and gentlest he had ever seen.

A medley of nature's best artworks, all meshed together in a breathtaking tapestry of beauty and perfection.

“It’s been a year to the day since you first kissed me.”

Stephen remembered. A kiss, freely given, freely taken. In his bedroom, no less. “It has.”

“So it’s…our anniversary.”

“If you must give it a name, yeah.”

“It’s…quite a big deal for you Midgardians, is it not?”

Stephen had to think. He had never been in a relationship long enough to reach any anniversary of any sort. But he had seen Tony Stark go into a right frenzy trying to find a gift for his then-girlfriend, now-wife Pepper Potts so, “I suppose it is.”

“Well then.” Loki smiled a rare, genuine smile, the kind that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Happy Anniversary, Doctor.”

Stephen felt rotten, not to mention guilty as hell. “I didn’t get you anything.”

 _What_ do _you get for a God who has everything?_

“I have no need of your trinkets and baubles, Strange.”

Stephen felt something in his chest break. “I have nothing to offer you.”

Loki stared at him for the longest time. “You have given me more than you know.”

A deep frown creased Stephen’s forehead. It was simply begging to be kissed, so Loki did.

“The mortal man’s most precious possession.” The kiss was inhumanly gentle, like the wispiest of butterflies.

 _Wha –_ Stephen’s mind drew a blank. This was one of Loki’s riddles, it had got to be.

“Take your _time_ , Doctor.” Loki was enjoying himself, for the answer was right there for all the universe to see, to _hear_. “There is no hurry.”

A while later, Loki suggested they leave due to the insistence of Stephen’s rumbling stomach.

“The shops must be closed now,” Stephen sighed, brushing dried leaves off his sweater before pulling it back over his head. He was wanting to try some of the traditional snacks he had seen on the way up here.

He walked over to where Loki was crouched under a tree, picking up something off the ground.

“A momento?” At Loki’s nod, Stephen crouched down next to him to help. “Shouldn’t you pick the red ones? They’re prettier.”

“They’re all pretty, Stephen.”

Loki lifted a yellow maple leaf to admire it. “Once you have seen both the most beautiful and the most hideous the world has to offer, you tend to see beauty in even the most unassuming of things.”

Stephen asked nothing further. Who was he to deny Loki his eccentricities? It was one of the things about Loki that attracted Stephen to him the most. 

Loki’s pouch was soon filled to the brim with maple leaves, all bright yellow with no red in sight. Knowing Loki, it was probably because red was Thor’s colour or something petty like that.

Teleporting over such great distances almost always tired Loki out, a well-guarded secret Stephen had found out only recently. So when Stephen offered to open a portal directly into New Asgard, Loki took him up on the offer.

Stephen stayed for a while, long enough to enjoy a tankard of mead with the great King Thor and to catch a glimpse of Loki secretly stuffing all the leaves he had collected into a ceramic pot filled with what looked like brine water, but not long enough to ask why.

Curious.

Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months.

A full year came and went.

“Care for some tea, Your Highness?”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Doctor Stephen Strange, M.D., Ph.D., now His Royal Highness the Prince Consort of Asgard, carefully closed the thousand-year-old Book of Spells he had purloined from Loki’s private collection and put it aside.

“ _Oof,”_ he groaned as Loki ceremoniously planted himself in Stephen’s awaiting lap. “You’re heavier than you look.”

“Now even _I_ know that’s not the kind of thing one should say to one’s spouse,” Loki pouted.

Stephen laughed. He wrapped his arms around Loki’s trim waist and proceeded to squeeze the life out of his new bride. “Hello, gorgeous.”

Loki produced something from behind him.

Stephen’s eyes brightened when he recognised what they were. “Hey, I saw these back in Osaka!”

“Yes, the maple leaf tempura, a delicacy only found in Minou.” Loki said, waving the platter under Stephen’s nose playfully. “And you didn’t get to try any because we were too busy having sex on top of a waterfall.”

“That’s right.”

“Sorry not sorry.”

“Uh-uh.” Stephen picked one out of the pile of deep-fried goodness and held it up to the light. The maple leaf had been fried to a golden crisp. “You went all the way to Osaka just to get these?”

“No, silly. I made them.”

Stephen almost choked on his first bite. “You made these?”

Then he remembered, “Those leaves you collected almost a year ago?”

“ _Exactly_ a year ago.” Loki’s gaze was soul-deep, steady and unwavering.

He watched his husband eat and reach for another, satisfied that the gift was well-accepted and to Stephen's liking.

“The yellow ones are the only ones with veins soft enough to eat. They are also the only ones hardy enough to not get discoloured from the year-long brining process.”

“I did wonder why,” Stephen mumbled through a mouthful of sweet and salty tempura.

Loki gave a small, knowing smile. “Yet you did not ask.”

Stephen fingered another leaf but did not pick it up. “Maybe because I already knew the answer.”

“Yeah?”

“How do you measure a year? In daylights? In sunsets?” Stephen shrugged. “ _You_ measure it in the falling of the leaves.”

A sudden dampness prickled Loki’s eyes. His heart felt near-bursting with happiness and joy unbridled.

“Only you can quote Broadway songs and still look so damn sexy.”

Shaky fingers reached up to wipe the tears away before they had a chance to fall.

“Happy Anniversary, Beautiful.”

“Happy Anniversary, Husband.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The thing with the whale alludes to an incident (an attempt on Stephen's life) in [Under Your Spell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23650531)
> 
> 2\. The lines featured in this work are lyrics to:  
> Miley Cyrus' 'The Climb'  
> How do you measure a year? In daylights? In sunsets?” - Seasons of Love from 'Rent', Broadway musical by the late Jonathan Larson.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
